Bristle-washing machine



(No Model.)

J. S. WHITE.

BRISTLBWASHING MACHINE.

- Patented Aug. 7, 1883.

. witnesses N. PETERS Phnlcvliihompher. wmnm tmmc,

UNI ED STATES JOHN s. WHITE, or PORTLAND, MAINE.

PATENT Brien.

IBRISTLE-WASHING- MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 282,940, dated August f, 1883.

' Application filed January 21, 1883. (N model.)

T0 at whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN s. WHITE, residing in Portland, in thecounty of Cumberland and State of Maine, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bristle-Washing Machines; and I do hereby declarethat the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to a bristle washing and cleaning device, and is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which "Figure 1 is'a perspective view. Fig. 2 is a detail of a disk, and Fig. 3 is a sectional detail-of the washing-cylinder.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts. I

The subject of this invention is a new and ingenious mechanical contrivanee organized for the purpose of cleaning and washing that elty consists in the construction and combina- I through the cylinder 0.

shaft turns.

class of bristles used in manufacturing brushes-for example, paint-brushes; and the novtion of the several parts of my device, all as will now be more fully setout and explained.

In the drawings accompanyingthis specification, A is the water-tank creasing of my bristle-washing machine.

B B are the standards or legs which support the water-tank A.

G is the washing-cylinder. D is a supporting shaft or spindle, running E E are bearings in which the cylinder- F F are cogfwheels.

G is a washing andcleaning disk.

H is a shield or guardjover the washing.

The water-tank A is made of any convenient size and shape. At the ends it is attached to "standards 13 B, i which are of sufficient length to. raise the water-tank high enough from the floor to permit free action of the op:

erator. The tank A is made water-tight to prevent leakage of its contained liquid substances. Thebearings E E, which rest upon the top rails cf the supporting framework,

serve as convenient bearing-points for the cylinder-spindle D.

The cylinder and its attached devices I constitute the chief feature of my invention. The

circumference of the cylinder is filled with' stiff projecting points or fingers. When the cylinder is in revolution,the office of the projecting points is to work in and through a mass of bristles held against them, and thoroughly remove the foreign substances adhering to the bristles. The projections used on the peripheryof the cylinder 0 maybe of various kinds.

I have found, however, by a series of practi' cal experiments, thata cylinder provided with proj ections as follows will produce the most desirable results.

Z Z represents rows or series of metallic fingersvprojecting fiom,the circumference of the washing-cylinder. These fingers are set on an angle with the cylinder.

In the use of my device the washing-cylinder 0 is revolved by power applied to the supportingspindle D. The tank or sink A has a partition, M, which divides the same in to two tanks, J K. The tank J is raised a little above the tank K. The tank J is intended to hold hot water for soaking the bristles previous to washing them. When necessary, the tank K canbe used for the same purpose, and a supply of water can befed from the tank J i to the tank K by means of the tube N, the flow being regulated by the stop-cock P. Ordinarily the small tank, J, will be large enough to hold in bath sufficient bristles to supply the machine.

To keep the water from spattering and flying about when the cylinder is in operation, a guard or shield, H, is placed over the cylinder, being supported by the side pieces, I I.

The operations of my bristle washing-machine are as follows: The operator takes the bristles, which have been previously soaked in hot water in the tank or sink J, as many as he can conveniently grasp, holding them by the butt-ends. The flag ends of the bristles are then pressed up to the cylinder, so that the roo projecting fingers or points Z can play between them and beat or whip off all foreign substances.- After undergoing this operation the bristles are pure and clean and ready to be manufactured into brushes. Exp eriments have demonstrated .that with the fingers Z set straight that is to say, at right angles to the and beating them, and in a very short period of time thoroughly remove all dirt and filth.

In the use of stiff points or fingers for the purposes specified, I do not confine-myself to any particular style or material. The points can be made of tufts of stiff. hair or'bristles, or they can be made of wood, or rubber, or metal. All that is necessary is that the points should be stiff and stout, so that they can efficiently perform the work of whipping'the dirt from the ends of the bristles. For generaluse I prefer the use of metallic points, as they are rigid, less likely to be broken, and easily replaced if they are accidentally displaced.

Under certain circumstances itmay be more desirable to wash the bristles by' rotating the fingers through the bristle ends. To provide for this contingencyI have made and attached to the machine a disk, G, which has points, the same as those used on the cylinder C, Set upon its face. This disk revolves at the end of a spindle, R, which finds a journal-bearing at 0. Motion is communicated. to the disk by means of a cog-wheel F, 011 the end of I the spindle R, which meshes with a cog-'wheeL'F, on the end of the spindle D. The field ofapplication for a machine organized as my invention is very wide.

I-Ieretofore it has been the practice in brush factories to wash and clean brush-bristles by I a process identical with washing clothes, a tub and wash-board being the implements used. This process has always proved very slow-and laborious, requiring in large factories the serv- I ices of many operators.

With my improvement inthe'process of cleaning bristles one man and machi-newill prepare and clean in one day more bristles than many men could in the same'time by the old process.

I am aware that machines have been-publicly described, but not to my knowledge ever practically used, in which the bristles were first confined in a clamp which rotated within a cylindrical box or casing, the said casing being provided with different devices for the flag ends of the bristles to strike against. Such is notmyinvention. My invention is designed to be more rapid and efficient in its operations. With my machine the attendant is not obliged to stop and fill a clamp with bristles, but simply takes from the tank or sink J a handful of soaked'bristles and holds them up to the rapidly-rotating cylinder 0, by the action of which they are quickly freed from all foreign substances: As soon as the first handful of bristles is pure and clean the bristles are placed upon proper drying-racks, and another handful is subjected to the operations of the machine.

W'hat-I claim asmy invention, and desire to secure'by-Letters Patent, is

1. In amachine for treating brush-bristles torender them clean and free from all'impurities, the combination, with a tank orsink, A,

have been previously softened by bathing, 1

' substantially as set forth.

2. The herein-described machine'for treat-v ing bristles to render themclean-andpure,

' consisting, essentially, of the tank A, for containing liquid substances, supported by stand: jards BB, bearings E E, supporting spindle I D, carrying a cylinder, 0, provided with fingers [for removing surplus impuritiesfrom brush-bristles, and shield H over the cylinder 0, spindle D, and disk G, and operatingxdevices, the whole combined and adapted to op erate substantially as described.

In testimony that I claimthe foregoing as .my own I have afiixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN STAPLES WHITE.

Witnesses:

NATHAN GooLn, ROBERT G. BRIGGS.

IOO 

